<p>Apollo6 - I don’t see chinese listed as a major, but Juniata College offers a “make your program of emphasis”, and it does list chinese language instruction, so your D may be able to combine chinese and environmental studies and make her own major. They have a off-site campus set up at Raystown lake which is very close to the main campus. Some environmental majors actually spend a whole semester with separate dorms and dining at the lake. It is at the bottom of a mountain, well PA mountain, and is beautiful. Plus, I think with her stats would get good merit aid. Strong study abroad program. </p>
<p>Galaxyfigment - this is going to sound dumb, but are you the same galaxyfigment from the DIS?</p>
<p>Wow. I knew there was a reason I made myself stay off this board for so long! The amount of posts is so overwhelming! It’s great that there are so many of us in the same boat and so many willing to share stories, suggestions, and anxieties, but I get addicted and overwhelmed SO easily, as any of you who remember my few posts over the last 6 months or so may know… I am almost jealous of students who are stressing out about apps, because my son is so casual that I think I’m gonna scream. I feel infinitely behind. I had a horrible summer, with my dad being quite ill, then getting better, then recently having a pretty major stroke. I have been torn in several different directions, and college has gotten pushed to a back burner. Essay? What essay? Guidance from counselor? What’s that? Firm list of schools? Nope. Scholarship essays? I’m sure he doesn’t even know that those exist… Fantasy football - now THAT exists…Also, husband may have to decide to take a “voluntary severance” package, or risk lay-off. It feels like it can’t get any worse… </p>
<p>On the plus side, DS '13 is actually doing homework (with 5 AP’s, he BETTER have to do homework this year!), has no more standardized testing (never took ACT, but has excellent SAT and SAT II’s) AP letter came recently (will NMSF letters be out soon, or do I ask the useless GC?), we are going to Duke this weekend for an overnight visit and DS will get to sit in on an Intro to Computer Programming class, as well as meet coach of tennis club. And thankfully, boys tennis is a spring sport, so he may have some time this fall to get all his stuff done… He was actually disappointed that the Duke thing is this weekend because he will have to miss the Sunday football games… Is it just him?? There have to be other boys out there who are smart and cocky and think it will all be no big deal? I’m not worried about him actually attending college. He can always go to Rutgers. He could even get merit $ there. And some days I feel like I should just stop doing anything and mentioning anything about college and see what happens… Seriously? Fantasy football over visiting what he says is his top school??</p>
<p>No, I’m not being fair. He, like me, is overwhelmed and it’s just not hitting him as hard yet, hard enough to light the fire under him. He IS willing to go to the Duke visit and he DID ask for us to give him some more guidance and direction, so at least he is no longer resisting. Maybe a plan for the next 6 weeks on a “college calendar” would help. Is it unreal to think we can get some early action apps in? </p>
<p>my3gr8boyz–to me that attitude means “I’ll be fine where ever I go”. There is nothing wrong with that at all. Our kids really aren’t stressing out about apps–or were not before they sent them off. They just aren’t the type of kids to be stressed. They both have a good, solid list of schools and would be fine at any of the schools. I think once decision time comes, they will have a hard time picking but they will be fine.</p>
<p>The actual apps themselves can be sent in a day. He could send off all of his apps today if he wanted to. I don’t think it is unrealistic at all. The hard part is figuring out who gets the apps :D. </p>
<p>I think you will find that most of us have been the administrative assistant in the college search process. I know in our case, I just have more time to do it than our kids. I’ve done most of the research on the various colleges and then run them by the kids for their opinion. They had a pretty clear idea of size and setting so that helped a lot too. I just know that come mid-October when their friends are all frantically trying to get their apps in, they will be happy to be done with the process, THEY just don’t know that yet :D.</p>
<p>I talked to the parents of one of the kids’ friends and they didn’t know that the one school on their son’s list is one they should send the app off to soon, like today. Rolling admissions but mostly because merit aid is first come, first serve. It’s the perfect school for this boy so I think he is only applying there for now.</p>
<p>Hello Lucky 13’ers! Hope your week is starting off well. We are finally getting some cool weather which is SO NICE for Fall. </p>
<p>A few thoughts…</p>
<p>** SteveMA ** CONGRATS on the kids and their applications accomplishments! Now…please take yourself to Florida and get my Step-D in GEAR! She is driving me nuts! Every day I talk to her, there is another reason why her next three schools are not submitted. sigh…</p>
<p>** Apollo ** - I would be ~very~ careful as to where your D ends up with a Chinese major. In my experiences, a larger school is going to give her more options in her field. One of my best friends in high school majored in Chinese and attended a tiny LAC in Wisconsin. They had something like ONE Chinese teacher, whom she ended up having for every class in her major. She DID do a study-abroad program, but it was pretty much a disaster. Everyone here can probably “google” a million schools that say “we have a Chinese program” - but what that entails, I have found, is very different a different schools. Buyer Beware! </p>
<p>I texted Step-D last night after she had failed to answer a question I had for her via text message, and when she answered me I told her that I was “gangsta” and that I was going to continue to re-send my text questions until she responds. I don’t think she was intimidated however because she texted back…“Yeah, real gangsta.” lol</p>
<p>3gr8t- I’m with you as far as jealousy… D finally has college essays as HW for English. I’m overjoyed. While she avoids this whole process with me, she does not avoid her HW. Possibly there is hope. I just wish they topilcs for supplements weren’t so darn stupid. Why not something that says what they want- tell us about a moment in your life and how it defines, changed, or otherwise affected you? But, no. Messages in bottles and other weirdness.
She announced that her friend took a college app class over the summer and wished she had known of it. So do I. However S14 perked up on that and told me to make him go. You betcha, S14. :).
So happy for you all with completed apps! Pat yourselves in the back as that is quite a feat!
Question for you guys… After her game this weekend D was one who was not attending a team bonding event, along with a couple of others. She told her coach she had too much HW and she did- she spent the entire day working on it. She has to get ahead because between practice and the commutes each way, three nights a week she is giving up five hours a night for training. The coach told the kids to get better at time management. I was annoyed, my H is furious. D loves her sport but isn’t looking to play it in college, however because the others are, she does not skip training and does her off-day workouts religiously so as not to let them down. She sees her friends on Friday and Saturday nights and otherwise it’s all school or sports. Should I say something? This coach had my already stressed out kid in tears and frankly, another episode of it and I’m likely to say “Quit!” though she wouldn’t want to do that. They’re a good team and nice people but good grief, school is first. Maybe the coach doesn’t realize what five AP classes demand, or that D has that kind of load? Thoughts?</p>
<p>Apollo: not an LAC but has your D looked at the Chinese Language Flagship Program at The University of Mississippi? [Chinese</a> Language Flagship Program - The University of Mississippi](<a href=“http://www.olemiss.edu/chinese/]Chinese”>http://www.olemiss.edu/chinese/) I know there’s at least one CC parent with a kiddo there. Strong honors college. Oxford, MS is beautiful. With her scores she’d get an automatic $15,000/year scholarship (tuition + housing & food is $25,000) plus there’s this: </p>
<p>Chinese Language Flagship Scholarships
Award Amount: Up to $24,000 for summer study and capstone year in China<br>
Eligibility: Entering freshmen with strong academic records who demonstrate a commitment to achieve superior proficiency in Mandarin Chinese (most students selected for the Flagship Program will begin with eight weeks of intensive Chinese study in June prior to freshman year, will spend 9 weeks of study in China in summer following their freshman year, may study in China again in the summer following their sophomore year, will study at Nanjing University in fall semester of their senior year, and will complete a full-time internship in China in spring of their senior year). U.S. citizens and permanent residents only </p>
<p>Congrats to those who are done! I am impressed (and jealous!)</p>
<p>my3gr8boyz: sorry for all the stress. My DH was laid off in August, so I understand that piece. And I’ve heard all kinds of horror stories about boys dragging their feet with apps. He may not feel the pressure since he knows he has Rutgers (which is a great school; as a former NJ resident, I can never understand why NJ peeps don’t realize what a gem it is.) Maybe going to the presentation on Sunday will light a fire. And he can check his FFL scores from his phone. I was changing my line up on my phone in bed this am ;)</p>
<p>vandyeyes: thanks for the heads up on the Choice blog!</p>
<p>I have to say that there is still quite a bit of time for apps to get submitted for most kids. Even most EA apps aren’t due until November and while it’s not THAT far away, it doesn’t take that long to submit the apps online really. Most of the '13rs have a working list at minimum. Again, DD has a very compressed schedule compared to most here because of her decision deadline in Nov. compared to May for most everyone else. BUttttt, it is really nice to be done :D.</p>
<p>My S is not really one to stress about anything. He’s pretty laid back about life - and overconfident and cocky, etc. It’s a boy thing. He is slowly getting his LORs in order. He has to get 3 teachers to fill out a form for his GC (since she doesn’t know my kid from Adam). When he handed the form to his APUSH teacher from last year, the teacher volunteered to write a LOR too. Just send him a resume. Check! Got his rank and GPA (21st out of 547, and 98.01). He will probably only submit the Common App before November. Since they are all audition schools, he won’t hear back on most until April anyway. It’s going to be a long year.</p>
<p>My3, I’m sorry about all the stress. My dad has been sick, too, so I can relate to that. And, yes, I have a cocky ds who is all over his fantasy football team but isn’t finding time to work on college stuff.</p>
<p>89wahoo, what timing! I just went to the fall/winter athletic sports mtg at school with the new athletic director, and he’s laying down the law. Last week, he sat a top offensive player for missing a practice. Is this a school team or a club team?</p>
<p>Anyone having problems having ACT test scores sent? S sent the scores to 8 schools about 3 weeks ago and the schools still haven’t received them. I thought these were received by the schools within a week of paying.</p>
<p>So my D is pretty much stressing out big time right now. Any one else in the same boat?
At the Back to School Night, my DH had a teacher ask him is she is all right b/c she looks stressed and then I also had someone come up to me and ask the same thing.</p>
<p>We talked to her when we got home and told her she can adjust her schedule as needed etc. But, she says she really wants to take AP Physics and in order to do that she has to take AP Calc. Then she also chose to take AP Eng Lit. I think she is just overwhelmed with apps/essays, volleyball season and her classes plus having a social life. She refuses to make any schedule changes.</p>
<p>Meanwhile she walks around looking either stressed or martyred. I am alternating between feeling sorry for her and feeling annoyed. Please tell me all of senior year won’t be like this. </p>
<p>vandy, I had a talk with ds last night about doing too much. He acknowledged to his cross-country coach when I was right there that he’s been in a bad mood for a week and that it’s probably because he’s not getting enough sleep and not eating enough. Then, unfortunately, we come home from the mtg to find out that’s he’s working more this weekend than he wanted. He wants a day to sleep in late. Now, they have a late-start day this week, but I bet he still wakes up early so he can go to breakfast with friends.</p>
<p>I wish Senior year could be less stressful. Right off the bat, lots of homework, tests,etc. Don’t these schools know the Seniors need a bit of time to prepare for the College process? Around here, there is a lot of talk about having “balance” and learning how to manage time etc…but it seems that everywhere, school, clubs, Athletics, everyone wants to say “but not here…here, you can’t miss anything…or very little”. It is frustrating.
DD has 10 schools: 2 safety’s, if she schmoozes enough (visits, emails, interviews), 2 absolutely-over-the-top REACHES (IVY’s–that I really don’t want her to apply to, but i don’t know if I can stop her?) and 6 “target-reaches” (meaning they have about a 30% acceptance). She said of one of her SAFETY’s “I wish it were a better school, I’d really like to apply early to it”…I told her to apply early to it; if she LOVES it, than why not go? She said “but that would be a waste of an early decision”…??? Does anyone get that? Why apply early to a school you dont want to go to; and NOT apply to the one you really want to go to!!! BTW–the SAFETY she LOVES, is a very FINE SCHOOL!! it has everything she wants and she loved it.</p>
<p>drmom123–can’t she apply early action vs early decision? Most schools have encouraged our kids to apply early action, which they did. Only one school discouraged applying early action because they reserve those for their absolute best candidates. She would still have an answer by Christmas or so, right? Also, get her to tell you why she thinks it isn’t very good. My guess is because of the name, not reality, right? Also, is she prepared to ONLY get into that school if the chips don’t fall in her favor for the other schools??</p>
<p>S3 is not stressed. He should be stressed, 5 AP’s, sports, college applications, etc… but he is cool as can be. Which is bad too. “Don’t worry mom, it will get done”. He is really stuck on the essays. He has good essays, that don’t answer the prompts, and then he has essays that answer the prompts that aren’t good. Or they are good, but don’t have a conclusion. I paid for the “essay package”, which includes three reviews, hoping that that would light a fire under him, but honestly I don’t think it helped much. We are no where near having anything appropriate for them to even review. You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. And the facebook and constant text-messaging is driving me crazy. I feel like if he could just lock himself in a room without those two things, it would be so much easier!! I think a sumer class would have been worth while because there would have been deadlines. And then there are the LOR’s. I told him to ask in June, which of course he didn’t. I sent him to school last week with his resumes and told him to ask, still nothing. He says he is still thinking about who to ask. UGH!!!</p>
<p>Pretty sure it is a “boy thing”. Jr is OVER-THE-TOP with his confidence level right now…
He even admitted that he failed a Religion test last week, but told us not to worry since he wasn’t. (Not to bad for his first failing grade…but I still wanted to smack him!)</p>
<p>Off season training has kicked into high gear which in our house means 3 hours a day after school and private coaching on the weekends. Hurdles = Sat/Javelin = Sun</p>
<p>TX5: I am with you on the Facebook postings…not sure if I should laugh or cry at half of them as I know he is doing that instead of finishing up his AP Gov so he can go to bed before 1AM!!</p>
<p>Told him to get with his CC “like TODAY” to finally put the finishing touches on his main essay for his CA. </p>
<p>Pretty sure my “locked room” will be a basement…or same place with padded walls and alcohol…</p>
<p>Thank you for so many thoughtful replies! I sincerely appreciate it. Thank you especially for the heads up on small programs at LACs. I will mention that to my daughter. While she does not necessarily want to major in Chinese, I think she does want to develop proficiency. I have been encouraging her towards the Flagship Chinese program at Ole Miss for a couple years but she is hesitating because Ole Miss does not have very many international students and because she thinks that the school will be too Southern and conservative. I have not given up encouraging that option. And honestly, the only thing wrong with our state flagship that does have a Flagship Chinese program etc. and where she would get at least full tuition is the fact that it is in our state! Does anyone else have a kid who adamantly does not want to go to their state flagship?</p>
<p>my3gr8boyz, You have my sympathy. My dh is constantly worrying about reorganizations. Typically they happen around the holidays which always makes the holiday season anxious and miserable.
Re. male application apathy, my S11 was just that way. With a bunch of APs, an UW 3.8 and a 34 ACT he could have had many choices but he didn’t want to go anywhere except the state flagship with his friends. He ended up going to the other state flagship that offered him free tuition but still drives across the state pretty frequently to see his buddies. If I hadn’t submitted that electronic application for automatic merit, he would have had no choices at all and we would have made him borrow the difference. He’s doing fine in college. Still likes his major. Has maintained the GPA to keep the merit. Still isn’t excited about the college experience but he’ll finish in 4 and get on with life. As much as we would love for them to love college and take advantage of all it represents, some don’t seem as appreciative as others.</p>
<p>Letters for the kids from AP today-assuming scholar of whatever level awards. I figured they didn’t get any since so many people got them a while back. They look like junk mail, plain manila envelope. :D.</p>